Hangar doors



Feb. 11, 1964 G. s. HARRIS 3,120,683

HANGAR DOORS Filed May 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 i i m 24 L 24 G////c7/77 J. Herr/J \F /4 INVENTOR.

yja z BY &/

ATTORNEY Feb. 11, 1964 G. s. HARRIS 3,120,683

HANGAR DOORS Filed May 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 6/ 0/77 J. Herr/J INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Feb. 11, 1964 a. s. HARRIS 3,120,683

HANGAR DOORS Filed May 10, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 1IIIII.II

I I 1 t\ II I II I '24 I l 1 I 11 I I 6/ ///am J. Herr/A5 A INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,129,683 HANGAR DGORfi Giiliam S. Harris, Houston, Tern, assignor to American Steel Building Company, Inc., Houston, Tex., a corporation of Texas Filed May 10, 1962, Ser. No. 193,812 2 Claims. (Cl. 20-19) This invention relates to doors and more particularly to doors for, use in airplane hangars and other building structures in which doorways of relatively large span must be provided.

The invention is capable of application to buildings of numerous different types and finds particular application in connection with airplane hangars, or similar structures, in which doorways of great width are customarily provided and in which doors must be used which can be operated to open the doorways to the fullest extent.

Buildings of the hangar type are customarily constructed with doors which may be opened to provide unobstructed entrances of the maximum dimensions, the doorways of such buildings frequently being as wide as the full width of a side of the building. The doors used in such doorways are usually of the rolling type, of more or less uniform size, supported on parallel trackways extending across the doorway, for movement to closing positions in which they coact to completely close the doorway or to open positions in which they are more or less overlapping to partially or fully open the doorway.

Due to the relatively long span of the lintels or door headers of the doorways of hangar doors, there may be a substantial sag or difference in height of the lintel or door header between the sides of the doorway, for which it is difficult to compensate in the design of the doors. Moreover, the large areas of such buildings which are presented to wind pressure may cause sticking, derailing or other malfunctioning of the doors due to movements of the building produced by high winds.

The present invention has for an important object the provision of a hangar door and doorway structure by which the hangar may be fully opened throughout the entire width of a side of the building, and which is designed to prevent malfunctioning of the doors due to stresses produced by 'wind pressure.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hangar door and doorway structure of the kind referred to wherein means is embodied for allowing ventical deflections in the door header or lintel or vertical displacement of the door without interference with the smooth operation of the doors.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a combined hangar door and door header structure which is designed to permit limited vertical displacement of the header relative to the door without danger of causing sticking or derailment of the door.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hangar door arrangement embodying a plurality of door units supported for rolling movement along parallel trackways and including guiding means positioned for coaction with the doors and overhead trackways to allow vertical movement of the doors in response to irregularities in the level of the supporting trackways while holding the doors vertically upright in all positions of the doors.

A further object of the invention is the provision in a hangar door and doorway arrangement of means for permitting the doors to be moved to positions entirely beyond one side of the doorway to be fully opened and to positions to completely close the doorway.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hangar door which is ofrugged construction and which is strongly braced against distortion.

Patented Feb. 11, 1954 A further object of the invention is the provision in a hangar door arrangement of the type mentioned of means for excluding dust and weather when the doors are closed.

The above and other important objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed explanation of a preferred embodiment of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic, front elevational view, on a greatly reduced scale, of a building of the hangar type, showing the door arrangement of the invention applied thereto, the doors being shown in their fully closed positions;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary, cross-sectional view, on a somewhat enlarged scale, taken along the line 2'2 of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary, vertical, cross-sectional view of the lower portion of the doors of the invention, showing details of structure of the doors and the supporting means therefor;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary, vertical, cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale, showing details of construction of the upper portions of the doors and door header, at a location centrally of the length of the header or at the location of a splice therein;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to that of FIGURE 4, showing the details of structure of the upper portions of the doors and the header at locations other than centrally of the length of the header or at the location of splices therein;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary, top plan view, on, an enlarged scale, of one of the doors of the invention and the header structure therefor;

FIGURE 7 is a crosssectional view taken along the line 77 of FIGURE 6, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIGURE 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 8-8 of FIGURE 6, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary, front elevational view, on an enlarged scale, of one of the lower corner portions of one of the doors of the invention with the front sheeting or cover plate removed therefrom to show the structure and arrangement of the parts of the door supporting wheel arrangement;

FIGURE 10 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line Iii- 10 of FIGURE 9 looking in the direction indi cated by the arrows; and

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary, top plan view of the overlapping, vertical, side edge portions of two of the doors of the invention in their closed positions.

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, the door and doorway structure of the invention is illustrated herein in connection with its application to buildings of the hanger type in which the doorway extends substantially completely across the full width of one side of the building, and a plurality of doors are supported for rolling movement to positions to completely close the doorway, and to positions beyond the ends of the doorway to open the doorway for its entire length. The doons 10 in the present illustration are of rectangular, unitary, substantially identical construction, supported at their lower ends on wheels, rotatably mounted within each lower corner of the door in position to support the doors for rolling movement along parallel trackways 14, extending throughout the width of the doorway and beyond the doorway into the housings or door pockets 16, located beyond each side of the doorway. In the present illustration, two such pockets =16 are shown, and three of the trackways 14, but it will be understood that use may be 3 made of only one such pocket, or none, and that a greater or less number of trackways may be employed, depending upon the particular type of building to which the invention is to be applied.

The doors are held in vertical positions for rolling movement along the trackways by the door header structure of the invention, which includes parallel guide rails 18 extending over the top of the doorway and guide wheels 20 rotatably mounted on the upper ends of the doors for horizontal rotation between the guide rails.

Each of the door units of the invention comprises a rectangular frame formed of upper and lower channel members 22 and 24, respectively, and upright side channel members or stiles 26. The upper member 22 may be connected to the members 26, at the upper corners of the frame in any suitable manner as by means of angle clips 28, as shown in FIGURE 11, and the lower member 24 may be connected at its ends to the lower ends of the uprights or stiles 26, in any suitable manner, as by means of angle brackets 30, as shown in FIGURE 9. The frame is provided with outer sheetings or cover plates, such as those indicated at 34, which may be flat, corrugated or ribbed, and the sheeting is connected to the framework at vertical intervals to horizontally extending crossmembers 37 which may be of Z or other convenient shape in cross-section, as shown in FIGURE 3.

At the lower corners of the door, internal horizontal and vertical frame elements 36 and 38, respectively, are provided between the door sheetings, as shown in FIG- URES 9 and 10, which serve to brace the door frame and to support internal housings, generally designated 40, within which the door supporting wheels 12 are rotatably mounted.

As best seen in FIGURES 9 and 10, each of the housings 40 comprises spaced apart, parallel, vertically disposed plates 42 and 4-4, attached at their upper ends to the downwardly extending flanges 46 of the internal, horizontal frame element 36, and at their lower corners to the bottom frame member 24, as by means of angle clips 48. The housing plate 42 is also provided along its external face with upper and lower horizontally extending, vertically spaced, reenforcing members 50 and 52. The housing plates 42 and 44 are perforated at a location between the reenforcing members 50 and 52 to receive a shaft 54 extending horizontally through the perforations and upon which suitable bearings such as the ball bearings 56 are mounted, upon which the wheel 12 is rotatably carried. The wheel 12 extends downwardly from within the housing 40 through a longitudinal slot 58 in the bottom frame member 24 for rolling engagement with the trackway 14 to support the door for rolling movement along the trackway. The door supporting wheels 12 are preferably provided with peripheral flanges 60, for engagement with the trackway 14 to prevent displacement of the wheels from the trackway.

The door header structure of the invention includes the horizontally disposed, parallel, spaced apart guide rails 18 which preferably take the form of I-beams whose webs are positioned in vertical planes on each side of each of the trackways 14, the upper frame members 22 of the doors extending upwardly between adjacent ones of the guide rails, so that the doors will be held by the horizontal guide wheels 20in vertically upright positions on the trackways. Each of the guide wheels 20, one of which is located at each upper corner of the door, is rotatably mounted on a vertical shaft 62, which extends through the web of the top frame member 22 and through the web of a downwardly opening channel element 64, attached to the top frame member, as by means of angle clips 66, and extending over the wheel. By this means, the guide wheels 20 are rotatably supported between the webs of the guide rails 13 in position for rolling contact with the webs to hold the door in a vertically upright position. It will be noted that the guide wheels 20 are normally positioncd between the upper and lower flanges of the guide rails 18, so that the guide rails are free to move upwardly and downwardly without engaging the guide wheels. In the event, however, that there should be suflicient upward movement of the door header, due to the eilect of high wind on the building, the guide wheels 20 will come into contact with the lower flanges of the guide rails, so that the doors will serve as additional weight means to aid in holding the building against such upward movement. At the same time, the doors may move upwardly and downwardly somewhat relative to the door header, due to irregularities 'in the level of the trackways without causing the doors to bind or otherwise interfering with the free movement of the doors along the trackways.

The guide rails 18 are supported at convenient intervals along their lengths by attachment to suitable vertically adjustable hangers, which may take the form illustrated in FIGURE 4 when the hanger is located centrally of the width of the doorway or at some other location where horizontal support of the header is required, or which may be constructed as illustrated in FIGURE 5 when the hanger is located in some other location. The header may be spliced by means of the members 67 and 67a, as shown in FIG. 4. The hangers may conveniently include angle bars 68, extending late-rally across the top of the header, at right angles to the guide rails 18 and connected to the header plate 69, which angle bars are adjustably connected to a superstructure above, as by means of bolts 70, whose lower ends are attached to the angle bracket 72 attached to the angle bars at longitudinally spaced locations thereon and which extend upwardly through perforations in a horizontal angle leg or plate portion 74 of the superstructure, the bolts being provided with nuts 76 on opposite sides of the plate portion 74 which may be rotated to adjust the angle bars upwardly or downwardly relative to the superstructure. By suitably adjusting the bolts 70, it will be apparent that the height of the angle bars 68 may be accurately ad justed.

It will, of course, be understood that any convenient type of superstructure, such as that illustrated in FIG- URES 4 and 5 may be employed above the doorway of the building to support the door header structure.

Midway of the width of the doorway and at other locations where it may be desirable to provide additional support for the door header, such as may be required by wind loading, the header structure may include a vertically disposed plate 78 attached to the angle bar 68, as by means of bolts 80 or the like and extending upwardly therefrom. The plate 78 is provided with spaced apart, parallel, vertical slots 82, through which bolts 84 are extended, which bolts also extend through suitable openings in a vertical angle leg or plate portion 86 of the superstructure above the doorway. By this arrangement, the plate 73 is adjustable vertically with the angle bar 68 by the bolts 70 when the bolts 84 are loosened and is sccurely held by the superstructure by tightening the bolts 84 when the plate has been adjusted to the desired position. The door header structure is thus more securely held against horizontal movement by means of bolts 84 and against twisting and vertical movement by means of bolts 70.

In FIGURE 11, there is illustrated a preferred means for closing the vertical gap between adjacent door units when the doors are in closed position. For this purpose, an elongated sealing strip 88, of angular shape in crosssection and formed of suitable flexible material, such as rubber, is attached by one flange to one of the flanges of one of the stile members 26 of one door with the other flange of the strip positioned to engage a flange of the adjacent stile member 26 of another door, to close the gap between doors when the doors are in closed position. It will be apparent that because of its flexibility, the sealing strip does not interfere with the rolling movement or" the doors, but is held in sealing contact with the doors when the doors are in closed position.

The invention, constructed as described above, provides a door and door header structure for hangars, or similar buildings, which is easily installed and maintained in effective operating condition, and in which means is provided for adjusting the parts to compensate for sagging, or vertical irregularities, which would otherwise be likely to cause sticking, derailing, or other maladjustments adversely affecting the operation of the doors.

The invention is disclosed herein in connection with certain specific embodiments of the same, but it will be understood that this is intended by way of illustration only and that numerous changes can be made in the con struction and arrangement of the pants within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus clearly shown and described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is:

'1. In a building having a doorway, horizontal building frame members disposed above the doorway to extend generally transversely thereof, a trackway extending across the bottom of the doorway, horizontally spaced, parallel guide rails extending across the top of the doorway beneath said frame members, header members extending transversely of said guide rails and fixedly secured thereto, a vertically disposed plate extending transversely of said guide rails and fixedly secured to said header members, first connector means forming an adjustable connection pendently securing said header members at spaced points to said frame members, second connector means forming an adjustable connection between said plate and said frame membens, said first and second connector means being adapted to adjustably support and maintain the rails in parallel relation to the trackway, a door disposed for longitudinal movement along the trachway, means on top of the door extending between said rails in position for engagement with the rails to hold the door upright.

2. In a building having a doorway, horizontal building frame members disposed above the doorway to extend generally transversely thereof, a plurality of parallel trackways extending across the bottom of the doorway, a plurality of laterally spaced guide rails extending across thetop of the doorway beneath said frame members, longitudinally spaced header members extending transversely of said guide rails and fixedly secured thereto, a vertically disposed plate extending transversely of said guide rails at substantially the mid-point thereof and fixedly secured to an adjacent header member, first connector means forming vertically adjustable connect-ions pendently securing said header members at spaced points to said frame members, second connector means forming a vertically adjustable connection between said plate and said frame members, said first and second connector means being adapted to adjustabl'y support and maintain the guide rails in parallel relation to the trackways, a door for each trackway on each side of the midpoint of said doorway, said doors being relatively movable between positions opening and closing said doorway, means on top of each door extend-ing between one pair of said guide rails in position for engagement with the rails to hold the door upright, and seal-forming means for sealing between each adjacent pair of said doors throughout the height thereof, said seal-forming means comprising an elongate strip of flexible resilient material having angular cross section defined by angularly connected flange elements, one of said flange elements being fixedly attached along one vertical margin of one face of a door and the other of said flange eiements projecting therefrom into slidably engaged sealing contact with the opposed surface of an adjacent door.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,586,792 Davidson Feb. 26, 1952 2,791,808 Rissler May 14, 1957 2,801,064 Oa'llahan July 30, 1957 2,807,058 Morgan Sept. 24, 1957 2,929,445 Haws Mar. 22, 1960 

1. IN A BUILDING HAVING A DOORWAY, HORIZONTAL BUILDING FRAME MEMBERS DISPOSED ABOVE THE DOORWAY TO EXTEND GENERALLY TRANSVERSELY THEREOF, A TRACKWAY EXTENDING ACROSS THE BOTTOM OF THE DOORWAY, HORIZONTALLY SPACED, PARALLEL GUIDE RAILS EXTENDING ACROSS THE TOP OF THE DOORWAY BENEATH SAID FRAME MEMBERS, HEADER MEMBERS EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF SAID GUIDE RAILS AND FIXEDLY SECURED THERETO, A VERTICALLY DISPOSED PLATE EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF SAID GUIDE RAILS AND FIXEDLY SECURED TO SAID HEADER MEMBERS, FIRST CONNECTOR MEANS FORMING AN ADJUSTABLE CONNECTION PENDENTLY SECURING SAID HEADER MEMBERS AT SPACED POINTS TO SAID FRAME MEMBERS, SECOND CONNECTOR MEANS FORMING AN ADJUSTABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID PLATE AND SAID FRAME MEMBERS, SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONNECTOR 